By Vincent Palmiotto (September 4, 2019, 2:08 PM EDT) -- Roughly one week before the Maryland General Assembly's recent legislative session adjourned, a bill was submitted in the Senate that would have required all asbestos lawsuits to be referred to the executive branch for mediation. Efforts to rush the bill through were unsuccessful. Following this failed attempt — which was supported heavily by the plaintiffs bar, including Baltimore Orioles owner and prominent attorney Peter Angelos, whose law firm handles thousands of cases for asbestos plaintiffs — the question is whether this bill should have been presented in the first instance....